


Fate

by Royalyanjun



Category: Qing Chun You Ni, 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dorms, Fate, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Jealousy, M/M, Mutual Pining, Roommates, Sharing a Bed, Sleepy Cuddles, Soulmates, survival show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-06 11:20:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17938739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Royalyanjun/pseuds/Royalyanjun
Summary: Fate is a really weird thing and wenhan and jiayi are about to find out just how much.Featuring oblivious wenyi or not, dorm one friendship,  yuehua kids and tygers.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes it's me and I'm back again with a new couple this time. Wenyi has taken over my life. So here we go.
> 
> Forgive any typos you may see.

Li wenhan had a clear goal when he decided to join the show. He came to earn back the one thing he wanted and missed the most - the feeling of being on stage. He could have easily said no when the company asked him, because his acting career was going just fine and he was enjoying it too, but wenhan gave up the first love of his life, swimming, for music. He would not give up on music for acting.

So yes, he had a plan and a goal and he was ready to get back into it. To do well enough in the show and earn his rightful place on the stage again. It was all good until he met Jiayi. Something about the younger boy made it impossible to think of anything else when they were together.

Wenhan smiled as he watched said boy run around the practice room, trying to simultaneously charm and annoy Guanyue into buying snacks for him. He must have felt Wenhan’s gaze, because Jiayi stops just long enough to smile and wink at him. He rolls his eyes at the other boy but find himself smiling back.

He still remembers the day they first met, back at the auditions. He had just felt so out of place, despite wanting to be there so he could earn the chance to stand on stage again.

So, to calm himself down and not to worry his younger brothers, Wenhan had excused himself from the waiting area under the guise of needing to visit the restroom. The room had begun to feel suffocating and the stares he got from the other applicants were not helping. Everyone was watching him, even as he stood to leave the room.

Wenhan had wandered down the halls and felt himself breathing easier, the further away he was from the room. He was startled when he suddenly heard loud laughter. The kind of infectious laughter that made you want to laugh right back. 

He had continued to walk while busily looking down at his feet and ended up bumping into someone as he rounded the next corner. When he had looked up to quickly apologise, the first thing he’d seen was a blinding smile before hearing a light chuckle that had sounded strangely familiar. It had taken him a moment to realise that this was probably the same person he heard earlier.

“Sorry” Wenhan had apologised and bowed, but the guy had just stared at him for a second before smiling at him with that same blinding grin. He remembered thinking that this was definitely a good looking guy.

“It’s okay, I'm Huang Jiaxin, but you can call me jiayi” the smiling boy or rather Jiayi had introduced himself, clearly expecting him to do the same even though he definitely knew who Wenhan was.

“I'm Li Wenhan” he had replied while feeling weird at having to introduce himself, but before they could talk or anything, a loud exasperated voice had come from the hallway.

“Jiayi, how many times do I have to tell you not to wander off?” 

“Oops, I gotta go or else my leader will hunt me down and that wont be good for anyone” Jiayi had said and turned to leave before suddenly turning back “It’s nice to meet you Li Wenhan, I hope we see each other again”. Then he’d left with a wave and that bright smile still on his face.

The same smile he had now become so used to, that he couldn’t imagine going a day without seeing it. It had been months since that encounter, and if he’d heard back then that he and Jiayi would end up being such close friends, he would certainly have laughed. But here they were.

“Ge, han-ge, Li Wenhan” A voice snaps him out of his thoughts and he looks up to see Jiayi standing next to him.

“You okay?” the other man asks with a frown.

“I'm good, did you want something?” wenhan replied with a question of his own. 

”Oh right, yeah, guanyue refused to buy me snacks so you have to buy me some” Jiayi answered with a puppy look in his eyes that's so cute Wenhan can’t even consider saying no. Typical Jiayi, he always knew how to get what he wanted.

“I have to?” he snorts with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, please” Jiayi pleads with his palms folded together, still giving wenhan that puppy dog look.

“Fine, fine, put those away” Wenhan tells him after a moment. 

The younger boy whoops loudly, causing guanyue who was teaching Wang Jiayi the steps to their theme song to shake his head while the rest of the class barely seems phased, having gotten used to Jiayi’s exuberance over the last two days.

The two boys grabbed their padded coats and masks and made their way out of the B classroom, careful not to be seen or heard by the staff since they were meant to be practising. 

Wenhan feels like a kid again, something he has been feeling a lot lately, especially around Jiayi who had the energy of a five year old and that contagious pretty smile. The same one he was sending his way at the moment before putting on his mask.

The two of them manage to get out of the building without being caught and quickly take a shortcut to the convenience store. The silence between them is always comfortable. As they were about to get to the store, they spot someone coming and Jiayi let's out a muffled laugh in recognition.

“Xixi, Xi-ge” Jiayi calls happily as he jogs towards the other trainee. Something twists inside Wenhan and it’s a not a feeling he likes, at all.

“Why didn't you tell me you were going to the store, then I wouldn't have bothered Wenhan to come with me” Jiayi says and changxi laughs before pinching the younger trainees cheeks.

“You still haven’t changed from the kid I used to know” Changxi says as Jiayi slaps his hand away.

“I'm not a kid ge” and even with the mask, Wenhan can practically see his pout. He rolls his eyes and grabs Jiayi’s hand, making the younger boy jump. He doesn't even know why he did it, all he knows is that seeing Jiayi talking to Changxi in such a familiar way irritates him.

“Let’s go” is all he says and walks off after letting go of the others hand. He doesn’t turn back because he can feel Jiayi looking at him, he was probably surprised by Wenhan’s reaction. He doesn't even want to consider what changxi must be thinking about his behaviour.

“Li Wenhan, that was rude” Jiayi tells him when he catches up to him.

“Okay then, next time I'll just leave you and let you get caught” he snaps as he opens the door to the store and walks in. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows that he’s acting irrational and he feels almost embarrassed or he would if it weren’t for the strange anger that still governs his actions.

“Ge, what's wrong” Jiayi asks, clearly concerned and suddenly Wenhan feels guilty, and stupid.

“Nothing, you are right that was rude, and I'll apologise to Changxi when I see him okay?” he replies and Jiayi, who had taken off his mask, smiles at him. That smile is enough to kill of any remaining irritation and makes him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He really doesn’t know what’s going on with him him today.

The thing is, he has no idea when he became so attached to Jiayi. They have only known each other for a little over a month after all, but already Wenhan considers him the person he is closest to aside from his younger brothers at the show. It was strange, but definitely not unwelcome.

Jiayi is sneakily picking up a choc stick and Wenhan slaps his hand, “ absolutely not” he says firmly.

“Ugh, Wenxuan was right, you are no fun” the younger man says, scrunching his nose is exasperation, and Wenhan almost smiles at the cute sight.

“Yeah and Linmo was right, you are both brats” wenhan counters and Jiayi smacks him with a mock offended look.

They grab a few snacks and Jiayi, despite initially claiming that he wanted Wenhan o buy him snacks, takes out his own wallet. Wenhan doesn’t give him a chance to pay though, quickly paying for all their snacks and thanking the cashier who looks at them in amusement because jiayi is now glaring at Wenhan. So maybe he looks a little too smug at his success.

They leave the store with a still pouting Jiayi. He looks adorable and Wenhan doesn't know what to do with that. They walk in silence.

“Do you think we will get into A class tomorrow?” the younger boy asks so quietly he almost can't hear him.

When he looks up, Jiayi looks uncharacteristically nervous and it tugs at something in his chest, making him want to comfort the other boy.

So he does, grabbing his hand and giving it a quick squeeze before letting go. “Don’t worry, you have the skills to make it Jiayi, I promise” he softly reassures him. He hopes it helps. He’s not all that great at giving comfort, that was always Sungjoo’s job before.

“Well, I don't want to get into A class alone, so you'll be with me right?” Jiayi questions.

”Maybe, I hope we all make it, you know, you, me, Guanyue, Huaiwei” Wenhan says hopefully. He know they all have the potential to achieve it too.

The rest of the walk to their dorms is silent but comfortable. They split up since the are on the same floor, but in different dorms. 

“Jiayi” he calls before the younger one could open the door and Jiayi turns back to look at him curiously.

“Don’t worry so much, just because teacher Minghao didn’t call your name last time, doesn’t mean you weren't as good as the rest of us who did get called okay”.

Wenhan knew that it had bothered Jiayi, when he, Guanyue, Casper and Zheming were called out and told that they were the most complete. He had looked at Jiayi and noticed how his face had fallen.

Jiayi just nods before looking away.

“Thanks han-ge” Jiayi says as he pulls the door to let them in.

When they get to practice, Huaiwei shoots them both a look that Wenhan can’t comprehend and Guanyue just smiles at them.

Then it was back to practice. Just because they had mastered the dance already didn’t mean anyone wanted to slack off. Everyone was practising like their lives depended on it and in some way it totally did.

So even when their bodies were screaming at them, no one was listening, they kept going. Every single one of the trainees had something to prove.

\---------------------------

Jiayi was so tired he could barely move any of his limbs and he is seriously considering just sleeping on the damn floor but he never got the chance, because wenhan appeared in front of him. He was sweaty and looked just as exhausted as Jiayi felt as he offered him his hand to pull him up.

Jiayi takes it with a small smile on his face, ignoring the warm feeling in his gut, he’s just grateful and he was definitely not getting tingles because Wenhan held his hand for five seconds. He was too damn tired for any of this.

The two of them and some other stragglers made their way up to their dorm rooms, everyone complaining about aching limbs and some almost seemed to be sleepwalking. Huaiwei was busy dragging Wang Jiayi with him because the vocalist wanted to stay and practice more and it was almost four in the morning.

Jiayi doesn't really remember how he got into his bed, all he cares about is that he was warm and comfortable. Falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow without a care.

When he wakes up, he knows its early because by now his body is on autopilot so he moves to get up but ends up finding himself in someone's arms and he nearly screams, especially when he realises who is holding him. His face immediately goes bright red and he feels slightly faint.

What the hell was he doing in Wenhan’s bed? His squirming wakes up Wenhan and Jiayi nearly curses out loud in despair and embarrassment. Absently, he asks himself how can someone be so handsome this early in the morning and on barely any sleep.

“Hey” the older greets him, his voice still addled with sleep.

“Hi” Jiayi squeaks back, feeling ridiculous, because Wenhan still has his arms around him and how is he even supposed to think or act normally?

“Uh we should get up”

“We have a few hours Jiayi, go back to sleep” Wenhan says sleepily.

Jiayi can't really do anything about it because Wenhan wont let him go so he gives in and sleeps some more. He’s going to need it.

The next time he wakes up, he’s alone in the bed and neither of Wenhan’s roommates are in the room. Instead, his own are there and Huaiwei is looking at him with a smirk.

“Morning sleeping beauty, so I guess this is why your bed was empty this morning?”

“Shut up, I don't even remember how I ended up here. I hate my life.” Jiayi replies while burying his face under the pillow. He let's out an embarrassed groan.

“Don’t be embarrassed sweetie, you were probably too tired and got into the wrong bed” Guayue comforts him as he takes a seat on the bed and pats Jiayi on the back. He’s really surprisingly good at this calming people thing.

“Where is he anyways?” Jiayi asks, lifting his head a little.

“He already went to breakfast, said he wanted to check on Yang Yang and Wenxuan” the older boy replies.

“He asked us to wake you up” Huaiwei adds gleefully, and Jiayi really wants to hit him. He was enjoying this way too much.

On the other hand, he can't help but feeling a little disappointed that Wenhan didn't wake him up himself even though that would probably be the last thing he wanted. Jiayi hopes all this won't make things awkward between them.

Before Jiayi has the chance to reply, the door to the dorm opens again and some of his group mates walk in. Jiayi groans, this just got even more embarrassing, especially given the looks Zhanyu and Jinfan were shooting him.

“Wow, I thought this habit of you crawling into people's beds when you’re tired was over” Zhanyu teases and Jiayi throws Wenhan’s pillow at him, gets up and runs back to his own dorm room where he locks himself in their tiny bathroom.

Jiayi quickly takes a shower and tries very hard not to think about he felt about sleeping in the same bed with Wenhan. He was going to apologise to his friend and hopes it won't be as awkward and embarrassing as he fears. 

When he walks out of the bathroom, no one is in the room and he is grateful for that because the last thing he wants is any more teasing from his so called friends.

He gets dressed quickly and opens his door, hoping to avoid his friends yet again. Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky since they were all waiting in front of his door.

“Not a word” he warns, before leaving, not bothering to wait for any of them. Each of them was annoying him except maybe for Guanyue, but as guilty as he felt bad about abandoning his friend, he was just way too embarrassed for more teasing. 

The only good thing about this whole situation was that it had successfully managed to make him forget about the impending reevaluations.

Jiayi gets to the busy cafeteria, and Lin mo who was seated next to wenxuan immediately waved him over. Some trainees he passes by greet him and he replies in kind, once again surprised by how many new people he has met in such a short period of time. He waves back at Lin mo before he goes to grab his food.

He walks over to their table, and when he gets there, he sees his leader force-feeding the youngest yuehua trainee. Jiayi feels a little strange, seeing them like that. It was weird to see him taking care of someone other than their members.

“Okay, I'm full” Wenxuan says, trying to stand up, but Lin mo immediately pulls him back down.

“Nope, not happening, finish the entire plate” lin mo demands with a tone that Jiayi knows very, very well. He’s been hearing it for about three years.

“You might as well finish it xuanxuan, he won't let you leave otherwise” Jiayi says as he sits down and the others finally come to join them. However, the table still seemed to be missing someone.

“Looking for someone?” Huaiwei asks innocently but jiayi knew his roommate was anything but.

“Yes, Changxi, I need to talk to him” Jiayi replies with a smile, enjoying the look of surprise on Huaiwei’s face.

He stands up to leave, not in the mood to eat, but Lin mo shoots him a look and Jiayi forces himself to sit back down and starts to eat.

Jiayi can’t help looking around again, wondering where Wenhan had vanished. “If you're looking for my big brother, he already left to go to the practice room with Chunyang. I think he was feeling nervous so Wenhan-ge went with him” Wenxuan supplies between bites.

Jiayi just nods, but he can't help but feeling a twinge of something that he absolutely does not want to acknowledge. Thankfully, Zhanyu changes the subject by talking about the upcoming reevaluations and everyone is suddenly tense.

It's like they are back in school and everyone suddenly remembered that they have last minute studying to do, because everyone is stuffing their mouths and trying to go to the practice rooms as fast as possible. 

When Jiayi gets to the practice room for class B he sees some trainees already practising. He looks for Wenhan and sees him in a corner, not practising and looking strangely blank, which immediately alarmed him.

“Han-ge, you okay?” Jiayi asks as soon as he reaches the older boy and almost flinches when Wenhan startles and looks at him in surprise.

”Huh Jiayi? Yeah, I'm fine” Wenhan replies as soon as he recovers.

“You are going to do great Li Wenhan so don't freak out” Jiayi says, his tone teasing, because he knows that's what his friend needs and suddenly he wonders why he was nervous to face him in the first place. It’s clear that Wenhan has no intentions of mentioning what happened last night.

So maybe they can both forget about it. It's not like they had a chance to talk anyways, since the staff has just come in to tell them they have thirty minutes left before the evaluation recordings start.

Jiayi smiles at Wenhan who smiles back at him. For a second that seems to stretch impossibly that's all that happens, just them smiling at each other. The moment is broken however when Huaiwei very loudly calls their names and Jiayi shoots him a death glare, unaware that Wenhan is doing the same, making Huaiwei cower behind Casper who looks at them strangely.

The recording passes by in record time, and half the class was more than impressive, they all really want to get promoted to A class.

Soon enough it was all over and they were given free time. Wenhan leaves right away, eager to check on his younger brothers. Jiayi decides to go on a walk, feeling the need to clear his head and was happy when Changxi who had come to their class offers to go with him.

“You guys are going somewhere? Can I come?” his noisy roommate asks them.

“Yeah I guess” Changxi answers.

”Great, let me grab Guanyue” Huaiwei says, grinning brightly, before fleeing from the room.

Huaiwei meets them outside the building, not just with Guanyue but with a whole bunch of people. He had brought Wenhan, Chunyang, Wenxuan and Lin mo with him. None of them beside Wenhan, who for some reason was staring at Jiayi being back hugged by Changxi, looked like they wanted to be there.

“Remind me again why you are making us do this?” the youngest of the Yuehua trio asks with a sarcastic tone.

“It will be good for us to get our minds off the results” Huaiwei says with a roll of his eyes.

“I know a perfectly good way for me to get distracted, eating and sleeping.” Wenxuan says, turning to leave, but Lin mo grabs his arm and turns him back around. While everyone is arguing, Jiayi can still feel Wenhan’s intense gaze on him and it was making him a little uncomfortable, so he moves away from Changxi. Later, he could have sworn he saw Wenhan smile at that. 

Maybe he was hallucinating due to the stress.

“Hey look, more people” Huaiwei says as they spot Mingming, Mingze and Shizhan coming out of the building.

Wenxuan smiles mischievously when he spots mingming “roommate, my roommate, take me back to our room” he says in an annoying tone.

Mingming downright ignores him and Wenxuan huffs like the kid he is.

Shizhan immediately makes a beeline for Chunyang and the shy boy gets flustered as the other boy wraps his arms around him. Mingze was just standing there, probably wondering why he was doing this based on his expression.

“You guys want to join us? We’re taking a walk” Huaiwei asks them.

Mingming and Mingze look at each other before shrugging in agreement.

“Yes” the loud boy whoops and Jiayi instinctively rolls his eyes.

“So where are we going?” Mingming asks and everyone turns to Jiayi.

”Uh, well I had no plan, I was just going to roam around in the woods behind our building” he says with a shrug.

“Well, to the woods we go” Huaiwei says and Jiayi can hear some of the others groan while Shizhan let's out an excited whoop, scaring Chunyang and Mingze looks like he wants to disappear.

The walk wasn't too long and they actually began to have some fun, treating it as a field trip. Jiayi lags behind after he manages to escape Wenxuan and Huaiwei’s mock fighting.

He didn't even notice that Wenhan had slowed down as well, until the other boy was right next to him. The two of them walked quietly, and Jiayi finally felt himself relaxing in the calming atmosphere of the forest. This was exactly what he had wanted, but strangely something was still nagging at him. 

“I'm sorry for invading your space last night. It's just that I have this habit of getting into other people's beds when I'm exhausted, and clearly that's what happened last night, so yeah I'm sorry. I didn’t want to disturb you.” he rambles, pointedly looking at his shoes. God, why was this so embarrassing.

Wenhan chuckles and he can’t help looking up in surprise. That was not the reaction he expected. “You are cute when you ramble, it's fine Jiayi, I understand.” he says, but Jiayi wasnt really listening anymore. His mind was far too preoccupied with the fact that Li Wenhan had just called him cute.

Wait, Wenhan was still talking wasn’t he and now he was looking slightly worried as well.

“Jiayi, hey, Jiayi, Huang Jiaxin” Wenhan was steadily getting louder and he finally managed to snap out of his trance at the sound of his name.

“You okay?”

“Yeah I'm fine” 

But before they could talk more, they were interrupted by Huaiwei who had decided they were being too slow. Soon after the group suddenly came to a stop, having realised that they had walked quite far into the forest. Together, they decided to turn back since none of them wanted to get in trouble with the staff.

“Did you guys know that after evaluations we are gonna be changing dorms again? How weird would that be? Having to get used to new roommates all over again” Shizhan mentions as they slowly make their way back.

“I hope I'm not roommates with Huaiwei again” Jiayi says and moves away quickly to avoid a playful hit from said roommate. 

“Oh please, if there is anyone who wants a new roommate, it would be me. I'm tired of both of you.” Guanyue says, receiving two offended gasps.

“What do you say Wenhan, I'll give you these two for Hanyu and Zimming. You can keep Bingchao.” Guanyue declares, while continuing to ignore the other two.

“I'll take Jiayi, you can keep Huaiwei” Wenhan says winking at Jiayi who can feel himself blushing and nearly flails in response.

“Damnit” Guanyue laments, and this time Huaiwei does smack him.

“This is the weirdest walk I've ever been on” Wenxuan suddenly pipes up, looking at the four of them in mild disgust.

“You are gonna miss me when I leave yueyue” Huaiwei says as he tries to wrap his arms around Guanyue, failing miserably as the dancer moves away.

“Great, when are you leaving?” The boy quips instead and Jiayi thinks Huaiwei might just burst a vein if they continue.

They manage to get back to campus before separating to reach their individual dorms. Jiayi notices the staff on their floor shooting them disapproving looks decides it might be a good idea to get to their dorm as quickly as possible. He also notices that the walk had done its job, he feels relaxed despite the stressful morning manages to smile and wave at Wenhan before he slips into their room.

They don’t have to wait long before they are all called to the announcement hall, and Jiayi knows without a doubt, that everyone is panicking. This was it, they were going to get their results and there was nothing else they could do.

Jiayi decides to wait for his groupmates so they can walk together. There is a lot of noise in the hallways, everyone holding onto that friend they made in class or simply sticking to their label mates. He gets that, they are all scared and need the comfort these friendships can provide.

His brothers arrive and he has never seen them this nervous before, not even before the auditions. They get to the announcement hall and everyone stands according to their class. They end up having a fun time with Zhang PD first.

The atmosphere was good until they announced it was time for the results and just like that, everyone tensed up again.

The announcement rankings pass in a blur. So many people get downgraded. Like shy little chunyang who gets downgraded to D and Jiayi can practically feel the guilt coming from Wenhan who is further down the line. Others stay the same, like Mingming, which surprises everyone.

He hates that he can’t just go and comfort the new friends he’s made here. His leader and Wenxuan stay in C while Zhanyu upgrades to B. Jiayi is so proud of him. Zhennan stays in D and he just wants to hug the older boy. They all worked so hard.

Changxi upgrades to A and it's well deserved, he knows how much of a hard worker his friend is. They share a hug before he goes up and Jiayi smiles at him, hoping he would soon join them.

Then it's their turn, and he feels like he might faint. He can feel Huaiwei trembling beside him and knows his friends feels the same. He’s also rambling to poor Wang jiayi, who looks even paler than usual.

Wenhan gets called and Jiayi can feel himself getting anxious, he wants his friend to do well. Wenhan doesn’t look nervous but Jiayi thinks he’s probably just pretending.

“Han-ge must be really stable huh” Jiayi says to Guanyue who is standing next to him. Guanyue just nods in acknowledgement. They both know Wenhan’s skills are no joke.

After getting his results, Wenhan goes back to go to his new class. He’s finally in A class and Jiayi is so happy for him. He shakes Jiayis hand before going up and Jiayi feels lighter, knowing that his friend had made it. Guanyue makes it too and then it's just him and Huaiwei left.

Zhang PD calls Huaiwei and Jiayi encourages him to go since he seems crozen in place, but PD calls him back, only to call both of them down together.

Jiayi feels like he can't breathe, but now is not the right time for a panic attack and he wand Huaiwei end up supporting each other on their way to the podium.

PD asks him what his dreams, just like he had asked their mentor a few hours earlier, but the mood then and now are completely different.

Jiayi is straightforward, he wants to get into A class, that's his dream at the moment and Zhang PD gives him his card. He flips it open and resists the urge to scream and cry simultaneously because his hard work had finally paid off.

Jiayi doesn't even remember claiming the stairs. He gets to the top and the only person he wants to hug is Wenhan. He doesn't know why and he doesn’t care to find out at the moment either, so he evades the others and buries himself in his friends chest. 

Wenhan pats his back and whispers congratulations in his ear and Jiayi felt himself warming all over. Wenhan eventually pulls away and they stand together, the former B class members. Huaiwei joins them soon enough and Jiayi is more than happy for his annoying, loud roommate.

They go to change clothes, and Jiayi has never been happier to wear a pink sweatshirt. He and Wenhan inhale the fresh scent of new clothes and as usual Huaiwei is there to tease them.

”Weirdos” he proclaims with a laugh and Jiayi turns to smack him, Wenhan doing the same, before the three of them share a laugh.

After the evaluations they get some more time to practice and at the stage for their theme song, Zhang PD drops the whole cancellation of center and asks each class to dance separately, moving more of the trainees. Proof that hard work pays off.

The stage is absolutely beautiful and Jiayi finds that he loves dancing on it so much and if the look of pure happiness on Wenhan’s face mean anything, he was feeling the same.

“This is fun huh?” Jiayi asks him with a smile and wenhan smiles back at him.

“I didn’t even realise how much I missed this until now. I never want to lose this feeling ever again” Wenhan tells him, and his eyes are darker than usual, filled with raw emotions that makes Jiayi’s breath hitch.

“You won't” Jiayi assures him before hugging the older boy tightly. Wenhan clings to him for just a moment until they have to pull apart again. Jiayi is sure his face looks like a tomato at the moment but he feels strangely peaceful nonetheless.

Luckily PD interrupts them again before things can get awkward. He’s calling A class and saying the competition for center was back on and Jiayi can't help but laugh. It must be contagious because Guanyue joins in and soon enough everyone in their class is laughing while the rest of the trainees are looking at them.

“Alright all of you are now my competition so no talking to me” Huaiway exclaims with his hand up in their faces.

Guanyue scoffs and pushes the hand away “You really think we like talking to you?”

“Exactly” Jiayi chimes in, knowing full well what Guanyue is doing. That boys loves to rile up Huaiwei..

“We have no choice xiaolian” wenhan says and Huaiwei shoots him a death glare at the nickname.

“Ugh I don't know why I bother with you people” Huaiwei says, pouting and leaves to annoy someone else. It looks like his unsuspecting victim happens to be Hanyu. The quiet boy had no idea what was about to hit him.

“So, ready to be my competition?” Wenhan playfully asks Jiayi as Guanyue leaves them alone.

“What do you think?” Jiayi counters.

“I think you are scared.”

“Am I or are you just projecting your own fear?”

“You wish.”

“Says the person who thinks I'm scared of him being my competition.”

“So you're not?”

“Bring it on Li Wenhan”

“Oh I will Huang Jiaxin” 

“What are you two doing” Chnagxi asks them, watching them engage in some sort of stare down.

“Psyching each other out” Jiayi answers without taking his eyes of Wenhan . 

“Okay, you guys are weird, anyways good luck Jiayi” changxi says while shaking his head in disbelief. He pats him Jiayi’s shoulder and he witnesses something strange. Wenhan’s expression changes the moment the hand touches his shoulder and he finally looks away.

The expression was unreadable and it made Jiayi feel like he had done something to upset his friend. He just has no idea what.

“Thanks to you too ge” Jiayi tells Changxi.

The camera crew finally announces that they are about to film and Zhang PD is back, ready to start.

Jiayi wasn’t all that nervous about it. Did he want to be center? Of course he did, will he be disappointed if he doesn’t get it? Maybe. As much as he wants to be center, he thinks Wenhan has a real shot at it and maybe Huaiwei with his weird charms and bright grin or Changxi with his stage presence. He thinks he could live with that.

PD gives them the instructions and everyone tries to come up with something interesting in under a minute.

They go up one by one and Wenhan, as usual, nails it. PD tells his friend to smile more, that he looked good when he smiled and Jiayi couldn't agree more. He loves seeing his friend smile, it’s beautiful.  
Then it’s his turn and he does his best and PD tells him not to forget his moves just because he’s smiling. Huaiwei presents his stage in a very unique way and manages to give Wenhan a run for his money.

But ultimately Wenhan wins and Jiayi find it hard to be disappointed with how cute his friend looks when he jumps around because PD calls his name.

The cameras stop rolling after that and they have another intense round of practice on stage with lights and PD overseeing their moves and pointing out their mistakes. The atmosphere is great, everyone is excited about their first ever MV for the show and how their theme song is probably what people would remember most about them.

After a few hours of practice, it was nearly midnight and Jiayi had completely blanked on the fact that it was new year's eve. The staff stops them from practising and tells them to get ready for the countdown. 

Jiayi is right next to Wenhan and they have a fun countdown, all of them screaming and shouting happy new year. Jiayi felt himself being pushed to the side by Bingchao and instinctively wraps his arm around Wenhan to steady himself and Wenhan returns the favour.

Jiayi pulls away soon enough when someone from the stuff starts a song and everyone starts singing along, celebrating with their friends. He sees his brothers all together so he goes down to meet them.

After the whole thing dies down, and they all get interviewed, filming is finally over fo the day and everyone is given a day off. They will all be moving to new rooms, before the MV shooting. 

The dorms have a paper stuck on them when they get there, each paper has four names on it. Jiayi sees his name on his old room, and Guanyue and Huaiwei’s names too, so he thinks maybe his roomates haven’t changed after all. He was fine with that until he saw the last name on the paper. 

Li Wenhan


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi sorry for the late update. Sorry for any typos you guys may find.

“Hey roomie” Wenhan suddenly says from directly behind him, a grin on his face, causing Jiayi to jump a little in surprise. He couldn’t help shooting a quick glare at his clearly amused and very unperturbed friend.

“New roommate!” Huaiwei suddenly pipes up out of nowhere, taking the paper from him. “Well this is going to be interesting, I'm gonna go rub it in yue's face that we are still roommates” their loud roommate tells them before running to go find Guanyue. Jiayi couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for his friend, Huaiwei was going to be horribly smug about this.

“Are we really stuck with him?” Wenhan asks, shaking his head a little in exasperation, the look in his eyes suggesting he felt the same way Jiayi did.

“You get used to him, trust me.” He tries to reassure his friend as they enter their ‘new’ room. That's when Jiayi realises that his and Wenhan’s future beds are completely attached to each other. Their heads would be directly next to each other if they decided to sleep on that particular side, which was, unfortunately, his favourite.

“Looks like we are bed buddies” Wenhan teases as he leaves the room get his stuff. Jiayi quickly followed his friend. He was sure Wenhan would appreciate the help. The two of them eventually manage to move everything, having spent half the time trying to ensure they weren’t missing anything with everyone moving around their stuff. Huaiwei and Guanyue showed up when they were almost done and helped them moved the last couple of things.

“Welcome to our dorm Wenhan” Guanyue says with a smile, clearly happy with their new roommate since they were already friends and Wenhan bumps his shoulder as a thank you. Jiayi feels like a school kid again. He hasn’t know any of these boys for long, but he knows they are going to be friends forever.

“I hope you have ear plugs” Guanyue was telling Wenhan when Jiayi manages to shift his focus back onto them.

“Why do I need those?” Wenhan asks, his eyebrows raised.

“Because someone snores.” Jiayi cuts in looking significant at Huaiwei who squeaks indigitantaly at the accusation.

“I do not snore” he says defensively.

“I sleep right next you, yes you do.” Guanyue returns with a sigh.

“Well, at least I don't talk in my sleep.” Huaiwei accuses right back.

“Good thing I have earmuffs then.” Wenhan interrupts before their friends can really get into it, clearly used to this kind of teasing. It’s times like this when Jiayi can really tell that he has experience living with a group of boys.

The door to their dorm room opens and Wenxuan walks in holding a cup of noodles. He looks at the four of them, all of whom are now looking at him questioningly.

“ Wow someone let the four of you room together”.

“xuanxuan, come give me some of that” Jiayi says and the younger boy goes to where he is seated and offers him a bite. Jiayi smiles and lets the younger boy feed him.

“Hey, what about me?” Wenhan asks, his voice sounding a bit strange. Maybe he’s hungry and feeling grumpy?

“Yeah and me” Huaiwei add quickly.

“No, you two get can your own” Wenxuan says, mercilessly, before giving Jiayi another bite.

“Oh so you will give Jiayi some but not us?” Huaiwei asks in disbelief.

“Well I like Jiayi” the younger boy shrugs and Jiayi can’t help laughing a little as he slings his arm around the boy's shoulders and looked at his friends with a smug grin.

“Some brother you are” Wenhan huffs and Wenxuan just smiles at him. Those two were ridiculous. Then he just leaves the same way he came. His new dorm room was Wenhan’s old one. He was sharing with Chunyang and Wenhan’s old roommates Hanyu and Ziming.

This whole roommates situation was going to be very interesting. 

The MV shooting passes by in record time, wearing their formal suits for the occasion feels oddly nostalgic for Jiayi since the last time he had worn it was during the photo shoots for the introduction page.

It feels like a lifetime ago. The mentors all come to cheer them on during the shooting and he can’t help feeling proud on behalf of everyone else when he sees how happy they are with their performance. 

They leave the hall after that, for a few hours of rest before they have different types of shootings. Everything from ads to the tiny extras they have to prepare for their fans so it’s going to be another busy day. Jiayi hasn't really spoken to Wenhan since they got on stage.

Being roommates is something he never saw coming, but it actually feels good to sleep with their heads so close to each other. Plus Wenhan had woken him up this morning and the first thing Jiayi saw was his handsome face as he smiled gently at him. Jiayi could definitely get used to that.

The four of them had made a rule, that whoever wakes up first, wakes the others so that the staff don't come to do it.

Getting Huaiwei out of bed was the hardest task anyone could have.The guy sleeps like the dead. 

Jiayi decides to spend the few hours he has with his brothers. He misses being around them all the time, it's weird how he used to get annoyed by them sometimes especially zhanyu with his loudness and his never ending teasing but not being with them or seeing them making new friends, makes him feel a bit strange.

When he gets to his leader's room, he finds him with the youngest of the Yuehua trio. Lin mo was laughing at something the younger boy had said and he decides not to interrupt them and leaves before they can notice him.

He makes a beeline for Jinfans room instead. He’s rooming with Chen Youwei this time and they seem to get along fairly well. Their door is closed, so he knocks but no one answers. Looks like no one was around. Two brothers down, two to go. 

Zhanyu was apparently playing basketball down at their gym and Zhennan couldn’t be found either. He feels the cold disappointment curling in his gut. He really misses them. He ends up sulkily making his way back to their dorm room. He didn’t actually expect to find anyone there so he just opened the door and went in, only to find himself staring at a freshly showered Li Wenhan. 

Why was this his life again? The man was so good looking and Jiayi felt tingles shoot up his spine just by looking at him. He didn’t even know he could feel like this about another man.

“Hey” Wenhan greets him cheerfully as he continues to look around for his stuff in his bag. 

Jiayi squeaks a reply that may have been a greeting before quickly clearing his throat. He can feel the warmth creep up his cheeks and really, truly hopes his face isn’t as red as he thinks it is.

“ Didn’t you have plans?” Wenhan says questioningly as he pulls on one of the many shirts the show had provided, before clipping on his name tags. No one wants to get in trouble for forgetting something as simple as their name tags.

“My brothers are busy, and now I'm bored” Jiayi sulks as he sits down on Guanyue’s perfectly made bed, and looks up when he hears Wenhan chuckle.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just that you reminded me of Wenxuan just now. think I know why he likes you now” Wenhan tells him still smiling mischievously.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, Wenhan opens it and a staff member walks in to tell them they were shooting their phone calls to their families before lunar year. After giving them instructions they leave and Jiayi finds himself thinking that he doesn't know if he really wants to talk to his family. At least like this.

He misses them so much, especially his grandmother and talking to her may end up making him miss her even more.

“What’s wrong?” Wenhan asks gently, a concerned look in his eyes as he sits down next to him. Nope, Jiayi definitely wasn’t thinking about how close their shoulders were and how warm the other body was next to him. Not at all.

“Don’t worry, I just don’t know if I want to film this kind of segment” Jiayi answers truthfully and he feels horrible for even saying it out loud. Who doesn’t want to talk to their family after not seeing them for so long?

“I feel the same way. I feel like I'm going to cry the minute I hear my parents voices” Wenhan commiserates with him.

“Yeah but I feel guilty for even thinking about not wanting to talk them.” Jiayi admits, feeling miserable.

The two of them sit in silence for a while and for some reason he finds himself laying his head on Wenhan’s shoulder. He wasn’t even aware he was doing it and when he does he tries to move away. But Wenhan’s arm stays wrapped around his waist and the other boy just squeezes his side a little. He stays where he is.

Why did he always feel like touching Wenhan? This habit needs to stop before it fucks up their friendship. He needs some self control. 

“Hey,Wenhan...” Jiayi starts as he moves his head to look up and is surprised by how close the others face is.

“Yes?” Wenhan asks, and there is a look in his eyes that Jiayi simply can’t read, but it makes him feel flustered and nervous. He feels something flip over in his stomach. But then that look disappears and Jiayi feels like a fool for even imagining it. 

“Never mind” Jiayi says moving away, and this time Wenhan let's him. They silence between them feels strangely charged this time and his side is cold. The situation wasn’t uncomfortable but it wasn’t pleasant either.

“Hey misery, want some company” Wenhan teases as he bumps Jiayi’s shoulder, effectively breaking the strange silence between them.

“We make quite the pair” Jiayi teases back with a laugh this time. The weird tension between them was gone and he didn’t want it back.

That's how Guanyue finds them, laughing at something he can't remember and trying to hit Wenhan with a pillow. 

“I cant believe I'm rooming with actual children, why me?” their roomate laments with fond exasperation. 

“Come join us yue, don't be a party pooper” Wenhan exclaims as he succeeds in escaping Jiayi’s grip and getting out of the bed to quickly grab his own pillow.

Guanyue rolls his eyes and stays out of it while the other two try to hit each other as much as they can.

“Pillow fight and no one called me? Some roommates you are” a new voice says loudly. Huaiwei was back and he grabs a pillow as fast as he could, ready to join the fun. His pillow hits Wenhan who gets distracted and Jiayi takes advantage by hitting his back as many times as he can.

They somehow manage to get Guanyue to play with them too and soon enough they have an audience, some trainees have gathered at the door.

“Are you sure there are adults in that room?” someone asks, it sounded vaguely like Zhenning.

“I don't know a Jiayi” okay he knows that voice, that was Zhanyu.

“Well, I don't know a Wenhan either” Wenxuan says and people start laughing.

“Quit your judging, at least they are having fun” someone defends them, it sounded like Zhennan.

“Right, I'm gonna join in.” Shizhan says cheerfully and runs off to get his pillow. Suddenly there was chaos all over the hallways the trainees were all hitting each other with pillows and the staff lets them be, because sometimes it's good to blow off some steam.

Jiayi takes pleasure in hitting Zhanyu straight in the face, and before he could retaliate Wenhan hits him too and Jiayi high fives him.He suddenly feel so much lighter, like none of the stress and worries of the last couple of weeks matter anymore.

“No one is going to hit my Chunyang” Shizhan screams defending the shy boy against his evil younger brother. Wenxuan kept hitting everyone around him except for Lin mo and Jiayi finds it bit odd. His leader wasn’t that scary.

Well Jiayi has no problem hitting his leader who immediately retaliates. Wenhan seems to be going for an unsuspecting Changxi who was busy fighting off Junjie who was screeching loudly.

Before he could warn his friend, he gets hit by Jinfan and turns his attention to where his groupmate was hiding with his roommates. Okay then, it was game on. 

Yaochi was screeching, running away from Gu landi and Shiyuan who were double teaming him while Wangzhe and Chaoyuan were running away from Sun Zelin who was making it his mission to hit them.

Chen Sijan keeps rapping as he slams his pillow into Wu Zelin repeatedly, even Mingming was joining in the fun by attacking Mingze. It was just full on craziness and by the time the staff put an end to it, everyone felt exhausted yet strangely relaxed.

Cleaning up the eventual mess was well worth it and some trainees keep asking the staff if they could do that again.

“I can't believe we started a pillow fight and it turned into such a huge thing and we didn't even get into trouble for it” Jiayi says, still panting, as he picks up some things from the floor.

“Yeah it felt like I was back in middle school” Huaiwei adds.

“If there was a dorm competition around, we win hands down” Wenhan exclaims, high fiving them both.

After the clean up, everyone was ready to film. Jiayi no longer felt heavy about talking to his family, but the phone calls eventually brought a somber mood to the hallways. So many people grew emotional after talking to their loved ones.

Jiayi hugged Lin mo right after his brother broke down. He knows how close he was to his mother.

“You’re kay Mo-ge, all this is a necessary evil remember? That's what you told us when we came here, it was for us and our families” Jiayi says trying to keep his own tears away. He didn’t like seeing someone he cares about crying.

Lin mo clings to him and they stay like that for a while until they get interrupted by Wenhan who looks upset too.

“Jiayi...oh I'm sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt” the other boy apologises, looking guilty, but something in the way he says it makes him feel like he has done something wrong yet again.

“No it's okay, I was leaving anyways. I’ll see you later Jiayi” Lin mo says pecking Jiayi on the cheek as a thank you before he leaves.

“I really didn’t mean to interfere” Wenhan starts but Jiayi cuts him off. Trying to make his voice calm and soothing.

“No it's okay han-ge, the calls are hard on people.” He sighs a little at the thought.

“Tell me about it” Wenhan says quietly, looking down. Jiayi gets up from where he was seated and hugs him tightly. Somehow, it always calms him when they are so close.

“Hey guys” Guanyue says with a sad smile as they part, still not entirely letting go of each other.

The two open their arms in welcome and their roommate hugs them back. Soon enough a fourth person joins in. Huaiwei’s eyes look tired and the usual smile is absent for once.

The four if them hug for a while, right in the middle of their room, taking comfort in each other. Jiayi is so grateful for them. He thinks that as long as he has them and his Tyger brothers this whole being away from his family for so long is much more bearable.

The staff wakes them up bright and early two days after all that, they were all needed for a special announcement. These news sends a wide range of speculation around, but the ones who had watched the show before were fully aware of what was coming.

“Jiayi, you and me same team right?” Changxi asks him as he sits down at their usual table for breakfast. 

He doesn't know how to answer that, because as much as he likes Changxi, he wants to be on the same team as Wenhan. And Jiayi can feel Wenhan looking at him from across the table, but he knows everyone else is watching too.

So he just nods at his friend, not noticing the scowl on Wenhan’s face or the look Guanyue shares with Huaiwei who stands up to go join his other friends. The chatter at the table resumes and Changxi leaves.

After that, they all head to the announcement hall. Jiayi can’t help noticing that Wenhan did not wait for him, instead walking with his former roommates. He refused to think about the pang he feels in stomach at the sight.

The hall looks completely different when they arrive, and they stand according to their classes. Jiayi stands at the front with Wenhan, Guanyue and Huaiwei right behind them together with Changxi.

Someone draws their attention to the songs on the wall and suddenly everyone is excitedly talking among themselves. There are a lot of good songs, but Jiayi finds himself almost not caring which one he ends up in as long he’s with Wenhan. He didn’t want to lose this closeness between them.

The directors interrupt them again and tell them that they are going to vote for the person they want to be with on a team with the most. Jiayi knew his choice before he even got to the ballot box and he hopes Wenhan was voting for him too.

“So who did you pick?” Jiayi asks him after he comes back to his place.

Wenhan doesn’t answer him for a second before he smirks “It’s supposed to be a secret Jiayi, don't be too nosy”.

Jiayi did not like sound of Wenhan’s voice when he said that. It wasn’t his friends usual light, amused tone when he was teasing someone. Somehow the other boy sounded disappointed and a little angry beyond that overly teasing tone he was using. He wished he knew what he had done to make his friend feel that way.

“Are you mad at me?” Jiayi asks him quietly so that the microphone doesn't pick up on it.

“Why would I be mad at you?” Whenhan whispers right back and he was smiling at Jiayi, but it feels forced somehow and he decides to drop it. At least for the moment.

“No reason” he replies and looks up when someone squeezes his hand, it was Hauiwei and Jiayi feels grateful for the support.

Zhang PD arrives and Jiayi forgets about everything else. This wasn't the time or place for anything other than the mission that was coming, especially when PD warns them that it also means they could possibly get eliminated if they didn't do well.

All the songs have their own unique charm, none of them sound the same and Jiayi wouldn’t mind any of them, even namanana, but he was too worried about the criticism that would come with choosing their mentor's song.

Their mentor then talks about why they voted and that the person with the highest number of votes will get to choose a song and pick their team. Excitement chatter goes round the room. 

“Don’t mess it up, Jiayi and I are on the same team, don't mess it up.” Changxi says to Wenhan, who seems to be fake smiling all of a sudden and now Jiayi gets it, or at least he was beginning to understand.

Wenhan did not want him to be on the same team with Changxi for some reason. It didn't make any sense to him, they were friends so why was Wenhan acting so strange.

“I want to be on the same team as you” he confesses looking at Wenhan but when the center looks at him he quickly looks away and smiles at Changxi. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Huaiwei rolling his eyes.

“Two trainees here have the highest but only one is in first place” Zhang PD says and for some reason everyone seems to be staring at him and Wenhan, expectations clear on their faces. Jiayi turns to his friend and raises his eyebrows playfully and he does a funny face.

“The person with the highest number of votes is yuehua trainee Li Wenhan” the mentor announces and everyone claps. Jiayi completely forgetting that he and Wenhan are fighting, claps too right under his friends nose and the center retaliates by slapping Jiayi’s butt a little.

So maybe they weren't fighting anymore, Wenhan goes to the front and picks gebitaishan to the surprise of most of the trainees, but not Jiayi. Wenhan had immediately liked it even though he knew that Jiayi didn't want that song. It was the first one he crossed off after listening to it. 

When PD says the team can only have five members, Jiayi panics a little. Maybe it was for the best, Wenhan hadn’t seemed like he wanted to be with him anyways but the thought still hurt.

“The first person im going to pick is” wenhan says drawing it out.

“Pick me, pick me” Jiayi thinks despite his earlier resolve. He had no idea what was wrong with him.

“Xia Hanyu” Wenhan finally says and everyone cheers. Jiyai can’t help feeling disappointed.

“Looks like he won't be picking you and you're all mine” Zhnayu teases and Jiayi kind of wants to hit him. He fake smiles instead and claps as Hanyu goes to stand with Wenhan.

“Hey, let's do fire then” Changxi tells him with a hand on his shoulder and he thinks that at least he has his old friend, but somehow his stubborn stupid heart doesn't want to stop hoping that Wenhan will pick him.

“The second person I want to pick is...”

The trainees start telling Wenhan where to look, everyone wanting to be picked by him. Jiayi can definitely understand them, because he wants that too.

“Pick a rapper” Jiayi tells him and Wenhan pauses and looks at him. He doesn't back down either. 

“Jiayi, do you want to be on my team?” Wenhan asks him and everyone turns to him. Jiayi resists the urge to answer him rudely because he feels like the center was playing a game with him.

“I do” he answers simply but honestly.

“Didn’t ou say you don’t want to choose this song?” Wenhan teases him but his smile seems a little brighter.

Stupid Li Wenhan. Everyone was watching them with interest.

“That’s true, I don't want to.” Jiayi jabs right back causing everyone to laugh.

“But he wants you” Zhnag PD says and Jiayi nearly chokes on air. What the hell did PD mean by that? He does not want Li Wenhan.

“I choose Jiayi.” Wenhan says and Jiayi smiles, still annoyed but slow strangely relieved. The trainees start complaining about the choices and they complain even more when the center picks Guanyue next.

“Four A's, thats unfair, my Guanyue” Shizan wails loudly for everyone to hear. 

Wenhan's last choice is Chunyang who looks so relieved it’s amazing. There are a couple of other surprises. Like Huaiwei ending up their opponent, rappers being picked for vocal songs and perhaps the biggest surprise comes from PD who tells them that only one team will get to perform in front of the audience.

This immediately sends everyone into a state of panic. It feels like the competition has finally begun and for the three of them having to go against their own roommate just felt wrong.

“Looks like we are actual competitors this time” Huaiwei says as they leave the hall.

“Yeah, should be fun” Guanyue comments sarcastically. 

Jiayi sees Changxi walking with his new teammates and decides to go talk to him. He feels bad for not being on the same team with him. But just as he’s about to leave, Wenhan calls his name and because he’s still a bit annoyed, Jiayi ignores him.

“Xi-ge, wait up” he calls and jogs to Chnagxi who is waiting for him. Changxi waves to his teammates, before he turns to Jiayi.

“What’s up xin xin?” His old friend asks him using a nickname of his Jiayi hasn't heard it in years.

“It’s been a while since anyone called me that. Anyways, wanna go to the store with me?” Jiayi asks him with a smile.

“Sure, why not” Changxi agrees with a smile of his own. They take the long route to the store, saying hi to the trainees they meet on the way. He waves to Lin mo who was dragging Wenxuan with him alongside the rest of their team.

Jiayi still finds their friendship a bit weird but he was not one to judge. They pass Wenhan who has his arm around Chunyang and comes to a stop when he sees Jiayi with Changxi, but he does not acknowledge them

“Are you two fighting?” Chnagxi asks him confused.

“No, we are not” Jiayi denies immediately. 

Changxi gives him a look which says loud and clearly that he doesn't believe him. “good because that would be weird, goven how you two were flirting barely two hours ago”.

“What? We were not flirting!” Jiayi almost screams. They were not flirting. Whta the hell?

“Really? Cause that’s not how it looked like to the rest of us, I mean even PD picked up on it” the other insists and Jiayi can feel his jaw drop open.

“No he did not, we were not flirting. Wenhan was just being annoying with all those questions” Jiayi insists.

“Okay if you say so. Hey do you have everything?” Chnagxi questions as he watches Jiayi pick up some snacks.

“Yeah, lets just pay and…wait i want something else” Jiayi quickly says, getting that white box containing a piece of chocolate cake, he’d looked at earlier. He starts to eat it before he even finishes paying. Chocolate is amazing.

The cashier simply shakes her head in amusement, while Changxi takes their bags and they leave the store. Jiayi is so busy savouring his cake he almost doesn’t notice Changxi looking at him with a smile. 

“What?” he asks, with his mouth full.

“Nothing, sometimes I forget you are just a kid” he says and suddenly Jiayi is reminded of the time Wenhan compared him to Wenxuan, basically calling him a kid too.

Jiayi swallows his cake “ Don’t pretend you are that old because you are just one year older than me, and this is delicious”.

Changxi rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything further. The two of them enjoy the cool evening air around them.

They meet a few other trainees who were walking around, witn the group competition officially beginning the next day, everyone was using the little time they had to get to know each other better.

It was quite the happy atmosphere although that would most likely change the very next day. Jiayi makes his way into the building after successfully escaping Jinfan and his teammates. He feels a bit sad at the thought that they were all in different groups this time except for Zhennan and Zhanyu.

But they were here to experience new things and grow individually.Then, they could use the things they learned to be stronger together after all this is over. No matter what happened. 

Jiayi makes his way to his dorm room with Changxi carrying the bags. He had successfully managed to stop Jinfan from taking the rest of his cake. He felt good about that.

Just as he was about to go enter the room, the door another room opened to reveal Wenxuan. He was smiling mischievously upon noticing him and Jiayi and he resists the urge to groan. This was definitely going to be troublesome.

“Jiayi, my Jiayi” Wenxuan calls, successfully launching himself at Jiayi, effectively trapping him against the door.

Changxi just laughs and puts Jiayi’s bag down “Yeah you are not a child at all” he says still laughing as he leaves.

“Get off me, tall person” Jiayi croaks, struggling to get out of the younger boys tight grip.

“Nope, not until you give me that cake” Wenxuan demands, not budging.

“It’s my cake, get your own” Jiayi huffs at him.

“Nooo I want that one, give it” 

After a few minutes of struggling, Jiayi decides to hand over the remaining cake. 

“Fine , I’ll give it you. Now let go!” he tells him.

Wenxuan reluctantly lets go, but smiles victoriously at his success in getting the box from Jiayi.

“Thanks for the cake, I love you” he calls as he runs away as fast as he can. Jiayi chuckles knowing full well he was going to get back at the younger boy when he least expects it. He opens the door to his room and carries in his bag of snacks, completely forgetting about his sour mood.

Though it instantly comes back when he sees Wenhan in the room alone. The other trainee seemed to be writing something in his notebook. He quickly closes it when he sees Jiayi.

“Look who came back, so are you going to tell me why you are mad at me or are you just going to run away again?” Wenhan says, his voice annoyed.

Good they can both be annoyed then. Welcome to the damn club Wenhan.

“First of all i didn’t run away and second I’m not mad at you Wenhan” he answers evenly.

“Yeah, you are so not mad” Wenhan replies sarcastically.

Jiayi rolls his eyes and starts putting his snacks away. “Don’t ignore me Jiayi, just tell me what the fuck I did wrong?”

This was the first time Jiayi had heard Wenhan swear since they met, they weren't exactly allowed to. Thank god there weren't any cameras in the dorms.

“Fine, you want me to tell you?” Jiayi asks and Wenhan nods.

“Well I’m annoyed with you because you basically made fun of me when you asked me all those questions when you clearly knew the answers to them” Jiayi tells him.

“What?” 

“You heard me”

“I...I Jiayi that was never my intention. I asked you because I wanted you to be sure of your decision” Wenhan tells him, his annoyance gone, now he just looked apologetic, sort of like a kicked puppy.

And Jiayi is starting to feel bad. Like he was in the wrong here.

“I just wanted you to be sure, you wanted to be on my team, since before that you told Changxi you wanted to be his teammate.” Wenhan continues. His voice tinged with bitterness.

“I didn't tell him that. I voted for YOU as the person I wanted to be on a team with, because that's what I want. Changxi just caught me off guard and he's one of my oldest friends. I couldn't just flat out say no to him.” Jiayi explains.

“Oh, well then we were both pretty dumb I guess” wenhan says with a slight laugh and the tension between them disappeared. Like it was never there.

“Yeah no kidding” Jiayi says punching Wenhan in the shoulder.

“By the way, I voted for you too” Wenhan tells him and Jiayi feeezes, staring at the other boy in surprise.

“Huh?” was all that came out. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Why would Wenhan choose him when there were others he knew longer and people from his company here?

“I chose you too, but when I thought you wanted to be with xixi, I picked Hanyu first to buy myself some time” Wenhan admits, his voice is quieter now, almost shy but still sure, and Jiayi is pretty sure he’s going to pass out.

“Why did you pick me?”

“Because out of everyone here, you are the one I want to be teammates with the most.”

Jiayi hugs Wenhan tight. “I’m sorry I ignored you earlier and for being mad at you.”

Wenhan pulls away with a chuckle “So now you admit you were mad?”.

“Shut up” Jiayi says pushing the laughing wenhan away from him. He can feel his face flushing.

“Oh great, you two made up, now practice won't be awkward” Guanyue says as he walks into their room. Looking at the two of them and their close proximity.

“Speaking of practice, do you guys think it will be hard having to compete with Huaiwei?” Jiayi asks, uncertain.

“It’s the rules of the game, that's what we all need to understand” Guanyue says, but he doesn’t look thrilled either.

“Yeah well, those rules suck” Jiayi says bitterly. The rest of his friends seem to agree with him.

Actually he was sure every single one of the trainees would agree with him.

The first day of practice consists of them watching the video and even though initially both their teams were excited, that died down fast when they came to the horrible realisation that the song was all rap and they were all vocals. 

Wenhan was the most worried out of all of them. He clearly felt guilty for picking the song and potentially ruining their chances on stage. The other team was full of rappers and good dancers.

So yes it didn’t look so good for them, but Jiayi is not one to back down from a challenge. And that is exactly what he told Wenhan.

“Cheer up guys, we can do this” he exclaims, breaking the silence that had descended upon them.

Wenhan looks at him with such a confused face, that it makes Jaiyi laughs before he turns his attention to Guanyue who has already caught on to what he means.

“The kid is right, we can totally do this. Lets use this as a chance to reinvent ourselves” Guanyue suggests, winking at Jiayi who scowls at him for the nickname.

“I want a rap part” Jiayi says just for the heck of it.

“It's all rap Jiayi” Wenhan says with a smile.

“I know so four people rap, one person is the main vocal and we’re all set” Jiayi declares with finality before Wenhan can start doubting himself again.

“Okay then, how about now we pick a leader?” Guanyue suggests.

“Lets make yangyang our leader” Wenhan decides.

“What? No” Chunyang squeaks.

“Oh come on, look you can order us around and we have to listen to you” Wenhan says encouragingly.

“Yes we can be your slaves” Jiayi tells him. And the two of them continue to try and convince him.

“Why does it feel like we are corrupting a child?” He asks looking at Wenhan putting the leader sticker on yangyangs chest.

“We just want you to open up kid” Guanyue adds gently. He’s good at that.

When it comes to center, they all quickly agree to give it to Wenhan. “We need someone with muscles so it's all yours” Jiayi tells him and Wenhan gives him a look.

“What?” Jiayi asks, trying to stop himself from cringing due to embarrassment. Despite that, an image was in his head, which included the freshly showered half naked Wenhan he has seen these last few days they've been rooming together.

“How do you know about my muscles?” Wenhan asks him, still giving that look that Jiayi can't quite read.

“We’ve all seen you without your shirt on, it's not rocket science ” Jiayi tells him sarcastically and Wenhan laughs. They stare at each other, neither one of them willing to break eye contact.

“Are you two done?” Guanyue asks, clearly exasperated, and the two of them break out of their trance. Both of them look sheepish.

When they assign the actual parts of the song, Wenhan gives Jiayi the main dancer role. Jiayi immediately refuses it.

“No way, you're the center, this part is meant for you” Jiayi protests immediately. The dance break was considered the killing part of the song. Centers usually get those.

“It’s just a part Jiayi, I'm taking second verse after yue, so you can have it” Wenhan tells him firmly.

Jiayi argues some more but eventually agrees to it. Well this was going to be a challenge. But he was up for it. Hopefully he won't cause the downfall of their team.

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to my beta and my friends who listened to me rambling about this fic.
> 
> Thanks for reading guys. I hope I got their characterizations


End file.
